The temperature has already been below zero, and the first snow has fallen. This means that the workers on the Fehmarn construction site must pay extra attention to avoid injuries from falls, slippery roads and cold. That is why the building company, Femern A/S, has launched a campaign to get the workers to take care of themselves in the cold.
Roll-ups and info video during the meal break
In practice, the campaign involves Femern A/S trooping up during meal breaks. They have roll-ups and an informational video explaining how to protect yourself and your colleagues against the cold.
– We have had a nice, mild autumn, and now we are entering a harsher period. There will be more rain, it will be colder, and there will be ice and snow. So it’s about looking after yourself, and we would like to remind the employees that they themselves have a responsibility for this, says Acting Health & Safety Manager Gintaras Vagelas from Femern A/S.
Out to the workers
In total, more than 1,000 workers have come to the construction site on southern Lolland. You can’t just send them an e-mail from the occupational health and safety representative, and therefore the client himself puts on the safety equipment and goes on on-site tours with the winter message:
– We are out where they physically are during their lunch break. Then we have a video and some roll-ups out there, telling them they themselves have a responsibility to protect themselves against the cold. But it is also important to tell them what they are entitled to and what responsibility their employers (the consortia, ed.) have, says Gintaras Vagelas.
Employers’ responsibilities
It is, therefore, the employers’ responsibility to provide special winter safety equipment. This can be especially warm work clothes, access to something hot to drink and a tent that can provide shelter from snow, rain and wind. It is also – as FemernReport has previously described – the consortia’s responsibility to provide, for example, equipment for snow and ice removal, gravel and deicing salt.
Employees’ responsibilities
However, the employees themselves also have a responsibility to look after themselves, says the safety manager:
– They must, for example, inform their chairman if they see something that is not right, Gintaras Vagelas points out.
Win a national team jersey
To make the message sink in better, Femern A/S has also created a small safety quiz where employees can win a national team shirt from their national team at the football World Cup, and it has paid off:
– The interest in football is great among everyone on the project, and this is evidenced by the high number of quiz participants. It is something that concerns everyone on the project, so we naturally want to support it, says Gintaras Vagelas.
It is the first time Femern A/S has focused on the winter conditions on the construction site. But there will, of course, be an opportunity to repeat the message a few times during the next seven years.
The campaign is run in collaboration between the developer Femern A/S and the consortia Femern Link Contractors and Fehmarn Belt Contractors.
